An enhanced MRI of Stephen Strasburg's right arm has revealed a "significant" tear of the ulnar collateral ligament in his elbow which will probably require Tommy John surgery, general manager Mike Rizzo said during a conference call this morning.

Recovery time from the ligament replacement surgery is typically 12-to-18 months, meaning Strasburg wouldn't be ready to return until late-2011 at the earliest.

Strasburg injured himself Saturday night in Philadelphia, wincing in pain after throwing a fifth-inning changeup to Phillies right fielder Domonic Brown. He attempted to convince Jim Riggleman to leave him in the game, but the manager immediately pulled him for precautionary reasons.

Strasburg underwent an MRI Sunday in Washington, the results of which revealed a strained flexor tendon in his forearm. Team doctors, though, wanted a clearer look at the forearm and elbow and scheduled the arthrogram (an enhanced MRI in which a dye is injected into theRead more »

Unbelievable. BUT….he is the type who will work his butt off to get back. I'm surprised by the "significant" measure. Kinda of strange that the original MRI showed nothing serious. Are we to believe that all those other MRI tests for players over the years were never adequate??????

Jee-zus crimminey. I feel so bad for him and this team. And who is doing the training for the pitchers? I'm not casting aspersions but I gotta ask: two baby pitchers in two years need TJ surgery? Isn't there someone who is supposed to be taking better care of them?

First Zimmermann, now Strasburg. How long before Cole and Ray need a TJ? I think it's pretty obvious the change-up is the reason for the injuries. Perhaps the Nats pitching coaches should figure out a better way for our guys to throw the pitch. Hopefully he'll be good as new in a year or so, but so much for contending next year. I think I'm going to start drinking.

Kevin,Got to think it has nothing to do with how the Nats handle injuries. They immediately took him out of the game which was the right thing to do. It wasn't as if they asked him to go another couple of innings or anything.

Cr*p. Best wishes to Stephen with treatment and recovery.Sigh. (And re. Dibble, hindsight is 20-20. He didn't have this information at the time, and he wasn't the only one who came down on the side of an old school-type pitching mindset with either this injury or the shoulder. Not that I agree with him, but imho he's entitled to his opinion, as are each of us. It's not like the team is basing personnel decisions on his opinion. Or those of bloggers. Or those of lowly commenters like myself. (And thank goodness for that.) I do wonder whether the team knew the extent of the injury before this, though, and may have asked Dibble to take the nights off in that context.)

This injury is does not happen overnight; the ligament 'deteriorates' over an extended period of time. Let's stop jumping down the Nats throats over everything including the weather. The 'good' news is that pitchers routinely recover from this injury and return to 100%. For those of us hoping for a dominant starting rotation next year led by SS and JZIM this is another painful jolt but ALAS it's no one's fault.

Makes me want to cry. Why are all of my teams cursed? U.Va., the 'Skins, the Nats … What must be done to appease the sports gods?I don't think there is blame to be laid here. The Nats handled SS with kid gloves since he signed. Maybe there is something to the mechanics, though, that should be examined as he rehabs next year.

I don't think you can blame any coaches for this one — Stras hasn't been with the team long enough!There are some folks that have been saying all along that his mechanics have a problem. Maybe they're right, or maybe not. Maybe this kind of thing is a bit more frequent with rookie 20-somethings that throw 100mph (btw, how many pitches did Stras throw in that 23-strikeout game in college? Anybody know?).Ughhhh . . . (BTW, Tcostant, I too grew up in NJ a Mets fan, and, funny thing, Strasburg was going to be my family's Tom Seaver, too!)Sigh . . . wait till 2012?

I think their could be "fault" in that I think someone (MLB) needs to look into why guys 50 years ago could pitch hundreds and hundred of innings and multiple complete games and now they can't? Is it overcoaching — ie: a guy gets to the bigs knowing 1 or 2 pitches and the big club is determined to get him a full "box of tools" — Did Walter Johnson know 10 pitches or did he know just 2 or 3 and that is what he pitched?

Tconstant and DCWonk: This NJ-raised Mets fan (my first crush in life was Casey Stengel because he was the Skipper and therefore smarter than all other humans) was counting on SS to be the next Tom Seaver right along with you. As for being on the ledge: I am telling you, there is physical proof that fan intention can impact game AND can help specific players. Dr. Ric Leskowitz in Boston is running these experiments and it is truly t up as having genuine impact. As soon as we can pull ourselves together, we should all send directed intention to see him WELL — not the pictures we have of him injured, not playing, but WELL. And we should see the Lerners buy us a for-real, fully baked, fast ball in the mid-90s tested pitcher so we stay on stride for next year. See the good everybody. And check out Dr. Ric. He is proving something we all suspected: the Tenth Man has an impact, on and off the field.

Anonymous said… "I think their could be "fault" in that I think someone (MLB) needs to look into why guys 50 years ago could pitch hundreds and hundred of innings and multiple complete games and now they can't? Is it overcoaching — ie: a guy gets to the bigs knowing 1 or 2 pitches and the big club is determined to get him a full "box of tools" — Did Walter Johnson know 10 pitches or did he know just 2 or 3 and that is what he pitched?"50 and more years ago there were tons of crappy pitchers and tons of pitchers that blew their arms out.

Noooooooooooooo! We are cursed, snakebit whatever you want to call it. This just totally stinks for Strasburg, the team and the fans. I know Stasburg will do whatever it takes to come back even more fierce. And I hope the best for him through this saga.And please, can we lay off Dibble? He's not the story here and I agree with 1a And yeah, this day is now on my top worst list.

Anon @11:00AM: Come down off the ledge. They'd have to go 8-26 to lose 100 games this year. Certainly they've got a 9-25 finish in them. Zimmermann's back, Marquis has been looking better, and Dunn will snap out of his slump at some point. I'm not saying this is not bad, but they've gotten to where they are without Strasburg for 60% of the season (I'm just quoting 60% off the top of my head) to this point, there's VERY little chance they'll lose 100 this year. Hell, just add their 12-18 record from the last 30 games, and they'd already be over the top (66 wins) with 4 games left to play.

Let's all calm down. Assume Strasburg were to pitch next year. For a young pitcher, a 16-8 W-L record would be pretty good. So the Nats need to have a starter to replace that. So Mr. Replacement goes, let's say, 8-16. That's an 8 win difference over the season. Not exactly jumping off the cliff numbers. And even our recent slump has not all been because of pitching. Look what happened to the Red Sox this year. They lost a whole bunch of "franchise players" for long periods–Ellsbury, Pedroia, Youklis, Beckett, et. al.,–and guess what? They are still in the hunt. They probably won't catch the Yankees or Rays, but so what? No one player is a make or break figure.

Terrible news for Strasburg and the Nats.How in the world did Nolan Ryan ever get it done?Why are we seeing so many TJ surgeries now-a-days and at such a young age?In my opinion, hate to say it, but it's all starting in the 12U programs where we now have 8U, 9U, 10U, 11U and 12U where it's all geared for All-Stars vs. just playing baseball. Those kids are throwing a curveball down there and that should not be allowed. But you'll hear comments, if they throw it properly, it'll be OK. No it won't, the young kid's body is not fully developed and one's arm should not be stressed with throwing a CB at such a young age. Throwing a CB in the 12U programs is contributing to the TJ's in my opinion. Too much emphasis on winning vs. just playing sand-lot baseball and the young kids having fun.These pitchers are coming into college and MLB as damaged goods.

anon @ 11:27, too true, particularly one who is in only every 5th game. And when a starter is in the game, the most he can do it put the team in a position to win (with factors such as run support or bullpen effectiveness being beyond his control). In addition, there was more pressure on Stephen than on most from the start, imo (to be the "savior"). Nonetheless, a big setback for the team, and for Stephen. I'm sad for both.—No one player is a make or break figure.

Somewhere out there former Dodgers pitcher and Cy Young winner Mike Marshall is asking the question "Will someone listen to me now?"For those who are unaware Marshall has a PhD in kinesiology (sp?)and has written a good deal on the subject of arm injuries to pitchers.

JBD:They need to go out and get a front line pitcher — a Cliff Lee — if they want this fan base to continue to grow. They would have to do this anyway to become a serious contender, even if Stephen and Jordan were 100%. Another 100 loss season and this franchise is the Pittsburgh Pirates.

The good news is this appears to be a Liriano/Josh Johnson situation instead of a Patterson/Hill/Prior/Wood situation. Although I'm sick of the Prior comparisons. Prior hurt himself running the bases and was also suspected of using 'roids. I'm just really disappointed about next year. Hopefully JZ gets enough work this year to be full speed for opening day next year. Another reminder that you can never have too much starting pitching. Hopefully they go get Jorge de la Rosa this offseason to give the team a power lefty.But at least his career as a premier starting pitcher is still viable.

I suspect that we're all saddened, Stew, but we cope with it in different ways. And that's okay. (Geez. Now I sound like Stuart Smalley.)Also, is it just me, or are there way to many anonymi (can't recall who once used that term on here) to keep track of here?—I don't care what Anonymous says. Or Anonymous or the other Anonymous. This sucks no matter how you spin it. I'm depressed.

@ Court: Correctomundo. So much for pitch counts. Eventually, pitching coaches, trainers, GMs, etc. will have to address 'how' a pitcher throws a ball. Only a few teams are doing the latter—Nats not being one of them.No reason why Stephen can't come back like the legions of Tommy Johners, not the least of which is Josh Johnson, who from my perspective has some of the best stuff in MLB.It's gonna be good SS!

And re. Dibble, hindsight is 20-20. He didn't have this information at the time, and he wasn't the only one who came down on the side of an old school-type pitching mindset with either this injury or the shoulder. Not that I agree with him, but imho he's entitled to his opinion, as are each of us. It's not like the team is basing personnel decisions on his opinion.That's the biggest bunch of crap I've ever read. There's another inane post of the day. What Dibble said was reprehensible as Gammon's said. Defending the guy seems a bit out there to me … but hey everyone is entitled to pass their hot air I suppose …

They can still sell Strasburg jerseys. They've been selling Wang jerseys all year.MASN–Please fire Dibble AND ditch that "Nyjer Morgan Blues" radio ad. It's terrible and you probably wouldn't do one for a player who isn't, um, you know, black.

This is the first time in five years of following the Nats that I've truly been defalted. Feels like we've been saying "next season, things will be better" forever. Now, with this, it feels we're already writing off next year before this year has even finished. Such a horrible thing to happen.I just hope JZimmm can carry the pitching staff next year, Maya turns out to be everything he promises to be, and Ramos starts making a Big League name for himself next year. Plenty to look forward to, but feels like the main attraction has just left town and we're back to being a franchise that's scrabbling around for good news in the basement of Major League Baseball.

This is not an injury to just any player whose replacement may cost us eight games. Strasburg was a reason for fans, especially fair-weather fans, to go to the park. He was the reason people talked about a sub-mediocre team. He will be missed in a lot of ways.

PS, I am also quite devastated by the injury to Strasburg. Didn't mean to undermine that… but hey, we weren't going to win the World Series next year anyway… but this does put our highly anticipated October run in 2012 in jeopardy… sigh.I guess we are just going to have to sign cliff lee to replace Stephen's production.

Tough news but I think if we can find a silver lining, they found his problem as continued problems of the arm/shoulder with inconclusive MRIs is a nightmare. I think permanent nerve damage or shoulder tears are worse given the success rate of Tommy John.Use Jordan Zimmermann as your success story. I for one had been holding out hope that the first diagnosis of the MRI was wrong.I also think Rob Dibble needs to bury his head in the sand a little longer.My heart goes out to Stephen and Rachel. Get better soon!

I think these young ptchers have arm trouble because the approach of youth leagues. Many years ago baseball was one of three or four sports kids played. Their pitching arm got some rest while they continued to develop muscles while engaged in other activities. Now kids in 7th grade have to select their sport, and the team plays together year around. So they are not developing as complete by using the same muscles over and over.Good Luck Stephen, were all pulling for a quick and painless recovery

anon, you're entitled to your opinion, as am I. I'm not a fan of ad hominem attacks, and I've seen many such attacks focused on Dibble of late. It's possible to voice disagreement in a civil manner, and civility can help to advance the debate. Name-calling or dung references, not so much.—That's the biggest bunch of crap I've ever read. There's another inane post of the day. What Dibble said was reprehensible as Gammon's said. Defending the guy seems a bit out there to me … but hey everyone is entitled to pass their hot air I suppose … August 27, 2010 11:45 AM

For goodness sake, GET OUT OF THOSE RED UNIFORMS!RED represents sadness, evil and lost. We never had a good team when we wore blue, but we didn't have all these injuries. We get what we represent SADNESS, have we not had enough!

We need more then just a big arm to replace SS. We need players who have a winning attitude and the skills to back it up. Our last place standing in the NL East reflects losing attitudes & poor performance on both players and coaches. It is a mindset and culture that must change. Great teams win regardless of adversities. This current group of players do not inspire and are not much more then a glorified AAA. Zimm / Pudge /Hammer excluded.

Good luck to a wonderful young man, who , I am sure will work as hard as Jzim did to return to the majors. There are 25 men on a roster, not 1, and the rest of them provided a nice treat last night. Oh, and — how many years did Dibble play? and — why did his career end? How did that old school approach work for him?

I have a question. Let's say he doesn't come back in 2011 and pitches the next time in 2012. Since he is on the DL does that count towards his service time? The Nats control him for 6 years. Does time on the DL count towards that?

This sucks, but I REFUSE to throw in the towel for next year! Pitchers: J Zimm, Lannan, Marquis, Livo (THEY BETTER KEEP HIM), Olsen/Stammen (or someone else). NOW KEEP DUNN, so we have soemthing to watch next year

@12:24. Yes, time on the 15 or 60 day disabled list counts as major league service time, so his free agent clock will be ticking during rehab. And no the Nats cannot option him and keep him on the DL in the minors to avoid this. Double Whammy.

But seriously, you can't compare these guys to normal people. They're like Indy cars–running at the full limit of their ability for hours on end (well, except for Livo and a few others who seem to have the secret)."I drove my pickup to work and back every day for ten years and never blew the engine!" You weren't driving it at 200 mph for several hours without a break.[obligatory Dibble comment deferred here]

Sorry guys, Kilgore is wrong about this. Article XXI(A)(2) of the MLB collective bargaining agreement, "For purposes of calculating credited service, a Player will be considered to be on a Club’s Active List if:(a) … on the Disabled List …And for good measure, Article XIX(C) "There shall be no assignment of a Player by a Major League Club to a Minor League club while such Player is on a Major League Disabled List."

and speaking of blowing your lid:"That's the biggest bunch of crap I've ever read. There's another inane post of the day. What Dibble said was reprehensible as Gammon's said. Defending the guy seems a bit out there to me … but hey everyone is entitled to pass their hot air I suppose … August 27, 2010 11:45 AM"And do so anonymously, too, evidently.

The Nats will survive! Can't stop cheerin' the best of the team and makin' fun of the worst. A Nats fan, is a Nats fan, is a Nats fan–even with Willie and Maxwell challenging the Mendoza Line!SS will return to a stronger team, and lead us into the playoffs. Ya gotta believe!

Doc, there are enough reformed Mets fans in this group to join you. If we could believe in them all those years, we can (and do) (speaking for myself) believe in the Nats now.Interesting stuff about how the push the kids in LL and that may contribute to the injuries. Nastfan 1a — thanks for sticking up for collegial commenting.Anonymous at 11:27: The Red Sox story is exactly what I am talking about. They have an organized group of about a thousand people using active intention to help that team. And it's working!

Some on these boards just don't get it. This is nothing short of a disaster. Even though Jordan Zimm was gonna be a two next year, the first year after coming back from TJ surgery is always sketchy. Liriano wasn't the same as before for years. Next year was gonna be the year that Strasburg fought the #1 on the other teams, while Zimm found his way back, so that 2011 we would be ready. Now Zimm needs to go vs. the #1 on other teams and will struggle in that role while re-learning how to pitch. Plus, you know there gonna baby Strasburg, you won't see him at all next year and maybe starts in the bigs in 2012 around mid-year. It a very sad day, as having a true #1 makes a world of difference and now we won't have that.We will not be relevant until 2012 now.

I find it fascinating to find four reformed Mets fans (who all remember Seaver!) on this thread alone. That's cool.even with Willie and Maxwell challenging the Mendoza Line!Uhh . . . Maxwell's batting .100 . . . he's going to have to start hitting just to be able to challenge the Mendoza line!As for Dibble . . . I've been complaining about him all year. His latest comments are simply a slightly more extreme version of the inanity he's been spouting the whole season. (Somebody in that other thread asked: "so why do you listen to him" My answer: believe me, I wouldn't if I didn't want to watch the games! Slowes and Jageler are a top notch team, but my only AM radio is in my car, and my only TV's are in my house.)

Tcostant is right. Losing Strasburg is a big deal. First off, (as someone pointed out above, but trying to make the opposite point) he might be worth 8 games above a replacement pitcher. Eight games is a lot — and a team that's currently in fifth can't afford to give up 8 games. Secondly, there's lots of buzz, excitement, pr, etc., that he brings that helps the team in other ways (morale, attendance, being the team that other Free Agents want to be on, attention which can lead to others getting on All Star games, and so forth — and, of course, bigger attendence (hopefully) leads to more money being spent on free agents, etc.)Smart money owners of teams (and Lerner is apparently of this school) only spend big money if they think their money will give them a chance to get into the playoffs. That's why big money has been spent on the draft. Losing Strasburg makes everyone else worth less next year (e.g., Dunn.) Why pay a big salary next year if it only helps get you to fourth or third place?This is a big deal. Let's hope it goes well, and can get in enough time at the end of 2011 to be in top shape in 2012. (Which is the optimistic version)

I saw this on the NJ and thought I'd mention something here: "Heck, any more pitchers the Nats acquire should head straight to the Tommy John center and have surgery. Get 'er done!"—–They do that now, but without the cutting. It's called "prehab". See, after TJ, the ligament itself isn't any stronger, but they work _very_ hard on strengthening the muscles around it and supporting the elbow during rehab. So the pitchers that come back "better" are the ones that learned better training and mechanics during their rehab.So the A's had their Big Three doing "prehab" 10 years ago. It worked pretty well for them.just sayin'.

Okay, not to beat a dead horse, but… you want infamous? THIS is infamous:Mike Rizzo: "We're certainly not second-guessing ourselves. We've developed a lot of pitchers this way."We sure have; let's do a roll call, shall we? John Patterson, Garrett Mock, Chad Cordero, Ross Detwiler, Collin Balestar, John Lannan, Jordan Zimmermann, J.D. Martin, Tyler Walker… all with injuries of various degrees of severity. Add Strasburg to that infamous list of "pitcher development." I don't know of ANY other MLB team that has had its hurlers go down as consistently as ours do.

Especially for peric: we’re each entitled to our opinion. You are. I am. Bloggers are. I have no desire to be drawn into a cycle of attack and defend with you. I won’t be responding to your further comments in that vein, either here or on other blogs in which you’ve commented about me today.

Attention Henny Penny's of the world…the sky is NOT falling! Big deal, with Stephen's inning cap only a few starts away he probably would have won 3 more games which means he contributed to the Nats winning 8 games, BFD!! We knoew this team was going to stink this year and sure there were those predicting 15 wins for young Stephen this year but that was completely unrealistic as was the expectation that every game he would be as good as his debut.As I predicted the arthogram indicated the injury was much worse than a cramp or strain or whatever. And also as I predicted the next great day in Nats history will be Opening Day 2012, when Stephen toes the rubber for the first time in over a year and Bryce Harper starts in RF!As for the franchise I anticipate season ticket numbers dropping way off the table for next season, with no Stephen, no Bryce, and no Dunn (likely), this team will easily lose 100 games in 2011.Good news, Stephen got his major arm injury out of the way early like JZimm and should be good to go for the next 20 years! Best of luck kid!

Knowing the Stephen is a power pitcher and his improper mechanics led to this injury, he will probably take the full 18 months to come back as he will have to correct his mechanics so that he does not over stress the new tendon. that being said I think he a Spin are going to become very good friends!!!

Michael J. Hayde said… "Add Strasburg to that infamous list of "pitcher development." I don't know of ANY other MLB team that has had its hurlers go down as consistently as ours do."How deeply have you researched it?

Its not like his career is over. He is most likely going to return in spring 2012 fully back to normal.The 2 biggest problems the nats had this season are lack of consistency up the middle on defense and lack of innings from Marquis and Lannan. Desi looks much improved at this point and Kennedy (or whoever is at 2B) is a defensive upgrade form Guzman. The assortment of ground ball pitchers (Lannan, Marquis, and Livo) should be more effective in front of an improved defense. And if JZimm and Maya can be consistent as and the offense stays intact (Dunn) — well this could be an 80 win team next season even wiht out Stras.